the christmas season

i’m just getting a few things in line while we prepare for being with lots of different family over the course of the next couple weeks.

but can’t skip out on some of the favorite holiday traditions! (sorry, the camera’s been hanging out in it’s bag…so it’s cell phone pictures today, without any fun filters like instagram…hurry up android app market!)

ok, so this might not be christmasy, but since moving in, ava has discovered the one heater in the apartment. not only does she stand by it whenever it’s on, she’s got it figured out to rotate and change sides. funny girl.

since we couldn’t drive over to be with my parents this year, they came over for an early couple days of christmas with us instead…and i wasn’t going to let my mom come and go without her and i making her traditional lace roll up cookies. she’s made them every year as long as i can remember, and before that her mom did as well. i don’t know if it was our batter or using a different oven new to both of us, but they were kind of giving us heck. it’s a precarious procedure of melting the batter in a saucepan, baking for a few minutes, and RIGHT before they harden, you slip them off the pan and roll on a dowel to make a delicate lacy tube. painstaking, but so tasty.

portland has a historic street that since 1925 all the houses on this lane go all out with lights. also, each home is a quaint turn of the century cottage with steep pitched roofs and adorable doorways and yards. it’s a citywide tradition to either drive, walk or carriage ride down the street…we took our hot chocolate in travel mugs with my parents and a couple friends and walked the lane. maybe one of my favorite new traditions this city has offered us.

don’t you just love christmas cards!? even in the midst of having an address change, we’ve been lucky to receive a few. we have to go on a walk to get the mail, or get it on our way home from driving somewhere, and it’s kind of fun to only go every other day or so to let them build up. in the moment of licking and stamping and addressing you wonder why we go through all of this, and then once they start popping into your mailbox you get such happy feelings of seeing all your family and friends out in the world send you a little christmas cheer. here’s ours for you:

what’s your favorite holiday traditions leading up to christmas?